When the Earth Moves

by Roxanne St Claire

  Five minutes later, Jo was logged on. A few seconds after that, the instant-message notification dinged and the familiar blue-and-white NY logo popped up. Yank-fan002 sending an instant message.

  How are my beautiful girls?

  It was always his first question.

  For some reason that she'd stopped trying to figure out, her eyes teared, as they usually did, as she adjusted Callie on her lap and started typing with one hand.

  "We're his girls," she whispered to Callie. "His beautiful girls. And don't we love that?"

  An hour later Callie had crashed, Jo's beer was warm, and the final cyber goodbyes had been exchanged. Upstairs, Jo changed Callie and put her down, then stripped off her T-shirt and shorts and slithered over her cool sheets, remembering the nights Cam had been with her.

  For nearly five weeks, not a day had gone by without him contacting her. If they didn't communicate on the computer, he called her at work. Or in the evenings, after she'd put Callie to bed and he sat in his magnificent office watching the sun set over Manhattan.

  With every conversation, they'd gotten closer. He'd never again said a word about marriage, moving to California, or "life." And Jo knew he never would. It would have to be on her terms, if those words were ever spoken again.

  She closed her eyes and replayed their electronic conversation. Just basic stuff. About work. Callie. His brothers. The games he'd be attending this corning weekend.

  A strange, deep ache filled her body. It had taken all these extra weeks, and a clear head with the adoption issue behind them, but now Jo could see what Cam already knew when he asked her to marry him.

  He could be trusted. He would stay. She believed that now. But would he ever give her a second chance? Would he ever walk into her shop, or knock on her doorand ask again?

  No, she somehow doubted he would ever make himself that vulnerable again. If the words were spoken, they'd be spoken by her, and they'd have to be on his turf.

  She closed her eyes and dreamed of Cam on his turf.

  Cam gave the stadium security guard an easy knuckle tap. "'S'up, Ed."

  "Dude, you flyin' solo again tonight?"

  Cam held up his two tickets and waved them toward his box seats. "You wanna sit with me, Eddie?"

  "Don't I wish," Eddie said, making a pretend grab for the ticket but purposely missing it. "Hey, Cam, whatever happened to that California chick with the ten-gallon hat? She was hot, man."

  "She dumped me."

  He looked dumbstruck. "You're shkiddin' me. She dumped a good-looking rich guy like you? Whadya think o' that?"

  He tried not to think of that. But he just gave Eddie a cocky grin. "She told you she didn't like baseball."

  "Guess she wasn't kidding," Eddie said, then punched Cam's arm lightly. "Hey, you're better off without a chick who don't wanna to watch ball. Who needs that?"

  He did. "I don't seem to have much of a choice."

  Eddie shook his head at the injustices in the world, while Cam took his seat and greeted some familiar faces. By the time they finished the "Star Spangled Banner," he had a beer, peanuts and one empty seat next to him.

  His eyes scanned the stands. He studied the couples. The little kids. Familiar faces and strangers.

  Had he always felt this alone in Yankee Stadium?

  Only after Jo. Before that, he was too wounded, blind and stubborn to know .better. But now he was healed. And smart. Andstill stubborn.

  No. He wasn't stubborn. He was just biding his time. A few more months of e-mails and long telephone calls. He'd already started studying for the California Bar.

  He'd go back to Sierra Springs. Back to his girls. Jo would marry him. He knew that like he knew the lineup for tonight's game. It was just a matter of convincing her to trust him.

  A chorus of "aas" around him pulled him out of his reverie. He looked at the field. Nothing had happened. At the Scoreboard. A bank advertisement. Then he noticed everyone looking toward the aisle to his right.

  "She's so cute!"

  "Look at the hat!"

  His gaze traveled with the comments, and fell on a two-foot-tall imp with curly black hair, giant soulful eyes and a pink Yankee baseball cap.

  For a moment he couldn't think. He just stared across the seats at her, all the blood rushing to his thundering heart.

  She reached out. "Cacacaca!"

  He was almost afraid to take his eyes off her. She was a dream. A vision.

  And holding her hand, another fantasy.

  "I heard you have an extra ticket," Jo said, her beautiful mouth lifting into a smile, her own Yankee cap pulled low over her eyes. "And a lap formy daughter."

  In an instant, he'd jumped into the aisle and reached her in two strides.

  " What are you doing here?" He put his arms on her shoulders and barely managed to keep himself from pulling her into him for a kiss he already tasted.

  "I decided to meet you on your home turf." She glanced at the field. "'Or grass, as the case may be."

  He just shook his head, speechless, then looked down at Callie. "Is she walking?"

  "She started about two weeks ago," Jo said with a laugh. "Remember Cam, Callie?"

  He scooped her up and gently squeezed her. "Of course, she remembers me. She's my girl." He buried a kiss on her head, closing his eyes.

  "She's one of your girls," Jo said softly.

  He opened his eyes and met her gorgeous gaze. "Man, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite as awesome as you in a Yankee cap."

  She touched the bill and they just looked at each other, grinning like a couple of fools.

  "I can't believe you're here."

  "Eddie remembered me," she said, glancing up toward the entrance. "And he promised me you were alone."

  "Sit down, dude!"

  He ignored the heckler and held Jo's gaze. "Why? What are you doing here, Jo?"

  "I'm here becausebecause I"

  "Put the kid in a seat, buddy, we can't see the game!"

  He wouldn't move. Couldn't move.

  "Because I" She tipped the hat back a little and looked hard at him. "I love you."

  Air whooshed out of Ms lungs as he reached for her, hugging her and Callie together.

  "Get a baby-sitter and a room, man! We're here to watch baseball."

  She dipped out of his arms and glanced at the crowd. "Cam, let's sit down."

  Grinning, he tugged her toward his box and guided her into the empty seat next to his. Callie stood on his legs and looked behind him.

  "No, sweetheart." He tried to turn her around. "The game's this way. See?"

  Jo laughed. "I've been watching it on TV with her, but she doesn't quite get it."

  "You've been watching baseball?" He looked at her in disbelief. "You didn't tell me that."

  She nodded, reaching down between them to pick up his beer. "I got a satellite dish." She took a lusty sip and held the cup out to him. Casual. Like being in Yankee Stadium with a baby and a shared beer was an everyday occurrence. "I get every game, home and away."

  His heart stuttered a few times. "No kidding."

  "That way you can see the games."

  Callie grabbed his ear, and he didn't even bother to disengage her. "When I'm visiting." That's what she meant, wasn't it? When he came to visit Callie.

  She gave him a get-real look. "Yeah. When you're visiting . Mornings. Afternoons. Nights and weekends."

  He shifted to face her, and Callie squirmed to get right between them. He inched his head to the side of her little body and snagged Jo's gaze again. "Could you clarify that for me, please?"

  "Okay." Her smile was warm and real. "I love you, Cam. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my days and nights right next to you." She reached up and caressed his cheek. "Clear enough, counselor?"

  Contentment washed over him. "Yeah. That's clear, tomgirl. That's perfect."

  The crack of a high fly ball echoed into the night and fifty thousand fans shot to their feet and screamed.

  Except f
or the two who preferred to kiss, with a baby between them.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  Of all the McGrath men to find love over the past year, Cam never would have guessed that his dad would fall the hardest. Cam just shook his head and smiled as he watched the older man slow his gait enough to match the unstable strides of the toddler whose hand he held.

  No doubt about it. Dad was a goner for Callie McGrath.

  Cam leaned back in the oversize cane chair that looked out over the endless green lawn of Edgewater mansion. He inhaled the salty breeze that wafted off Rhode Island Sound and watched the hundred or so guests who danced, ate and celebrated at Colin and Grace's wedding reception.

  "Look at those two," he said when Colin stepped onto the porch of the newly built Pineapple House Museum, his formal jacket and tie gone, his hair no longer bound in his signature ponytail.

  Conn studied their father and Callie on the dance floor set up under a giant yellow-and-white tent. "Yeah, I've been watching them. She might as well ask for the moon now, so he can put it on order for her next birthday."

  Jim McGrath bent his gray head toward the tiny child to hear something that she babbled, then he stood straight and released a bellowing laugh.

  "What could she have said to make him laugh so hard?" Cam asked his brother, both amused and amazed at the turn of events.

  "Yeah, she only knows four words," Colin said. "Jo. Cam. Car and ball."

  "The important stuff," Cam assured him, his gaze drifting across the dancers.

  "I told you he's a different man," Colin said. "Like the weight of the world has been taken off his conscience."

  But that hadn't been easy. Jim McGrath had to force himself to face each of his sons and apologize for decades of stubborn foolishness and deception. At first he tried to rationalize his behavior, then he owned up to his mistakes. He'd even flown to California for an emotional meeting with Jo and Callie.

  With the past behind them, their mother and sister gone, the three brothers and the women they loved agreed to the only thing that made sense.

  They forgave him. And ever since, their dad had appeared younger, happier and healthier than he had in years. And infatuated with his first grandchild.

  From his vantage point on the elevated wraparound porch, Cam studied the dancers and the clusters of guests around the tables laden with food and champagne, searching for a glimpse of auburn hair and a flash of copper-penny eyes.

  He hoped his wedding, scheduled for the following Christmas in Sierra Springs, would be just as glorious as this one. By then they'd have Katie's old salon entirely renovated into his new law offices, and he'd be ready to take the California Bar and start practicing law again, instead of running a massive legal department.

  And, more important, their adoption of Callie would be finalized and she could add two more words to her repertoire: Mommy and Daddy.

  "Have you seen Quinn?" Colin asked, taking a seat in the cane chair next to Cam.

  "Behind you," Quinn said as he stepped through the front door of Pineapple House to join them. "Looking for the gorgeous woman I married and not you goons."

  "You're stuck with us, bro," Colin said, nodding toward the far edge of the lawn where a balustrade enclosure lined the cliffs of the property. "Our women are bonding."

  Grace, in her elegant, formfitring white gown, stood between Jo and Nicole, her arms around both their waists. Their heads were close as they exchanged confidences. Grace was telling them something, and Nic laughed, followed by Jo, the chiming sound dancing across the lawn just as the music stopped.

  "What do you think they're talking about?" Colin asked.

  "How lucky they are," Quinn joked.

  The men laughed, but Cam couldn't resist stating the obvious. "As if they're the lucky ones."

  Quinn crossed his arms and studied the group, no doubt his attention drawn to the dark-haired beauty he'd found in Florida. "You know, if it hadn't been for the hurricane that destroyed her resort, I'd have never found that woman," he said.

  Colin nodded and indicated the building around them. "And if lightning hadn't struck Edgewater, who knows if Gracie and I would have ever met again and gotten past a ten-year-old misunderstanding?" As though she'd heard him, Grace looked toward the house, sending a blinding smile toward Colin, her blond hair shining in the sun, her green eyes full of love.

  Cam studied the third woman in the group. In a slinky gold dress and heels, his tomgirl had been a sbow-stop-per all day.

  "And you found Jo after an earthquake," Quinn said slowly, his voice echoing the eerie chill that danced over Cam's skin.

  The three men exchanged a look of astonishment at the realization.

  "It seems we have a mother after all," Cam said with a quick laugh. "Mother Nature."

  And she'd generously unleashed the power of earth, wind and fire to give them three lifetimes of love.